not yet
by ulstergirl
Summary: Soon after they meet, Ned is helping Nancy on a case when something goes wrong. (Based on a prompt from otpprompts on tumblr.)


**From otpprompts on tumblr: Imagine that your OTP is not yet a couple. Person A falls into freezing water and passes out. Person B pulls them to safety but now needs to get Person A out of their wet clothes and into something dry.**

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"Nancy!"

She heard her own name in a muffled cry right before the splash, and her head jerked up, her heart beating painfully hard. So the man they had followed from the wharf had gone to the river—

But, apparently, so had Ned.

She dashed through the trees as best she could, but the woods were dense with young pine, growing too close to each other to allow for a clear path. Several times she doubted herself, and she tried to calculate how far down stream he could have gone in the time since she had heard him cry out.

Her heart was in her throat as she searched for him, in the reflection of the moonlight gleaming on the river, highlighting the ripples of an all too fast current. If he had been caught in it and pulled under—

She had only met his parents the day before, and now their admonishment that they be careful on her case seemed like a terrible portent. Bess and George hadn't been able to come with her tonight, and she had thought it wouldn't take long...

Oh, he had to be okay, he _had_ to.

She found him half draped over a sturdy tree limb with his lower body in the water, but he didn't respond to her cries, and his face was deathly pale. The water was freezing when she dipped a few fingers into it, and she hissed, slipping out of her low heels. He could be in shock, and her going into the water would only put them _both_ in danger.

The current in the area was still frighteningly fast, so she wedged another sturdy tree branch behind him in case he drifted loose, and edged out onto the limb he was on. She very nearly slipped into the water a few times, but she finally managed to grasp his upper arms and pull him toward the shore. The current was fighting her, and his clothes were heavily waterlogged, and he was like a dead weight in her arms. Only the shallow breath against her forearm made her feel any better. At least he was still alive.

She was panting and exhausted by the time she dragged him to shore, and she took a moment to try to catch her breath, reaching up to press her fingers against the pulse point in his neck. Even the spray of the water against her skin had left her shivering; Ned's teeth were chattering.

She had to get him warm, somehow, but she couldn't support his weight all the way to her car and his freezing waterlogged clothes would just keep him cold.

She had a blanket in her car, but she couldn't wait long enough to retrieve it and find him again. Instead, with no small effort, she managed to pull his shirt off, then his shoes and socks and pants. The breeze wasn't helping, and she dried him off as best she could with her jacket, but he was still alarmingly cold to the touch.

"Ned," she murmured, patting his cheek. "Ned, wake up. We have to get you somewhere warm. It's going to be all right. Just please wake up. Just open your eyes."

It was terrifying to gaze down into his slack, unconscious face, and she felt a hint of the same panic her friends must have felt when they found her this way. But this was _Ned_. She hadn't even known him for very long, but he was incredibly handsome and patient and brave, and it just wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't. It wasn't supposed to end this way.

Pushing all thought of the impropriety of it from her mind, Nancy slowly stretched out and rested the length of her clothed body against his. The river water was cold against her skin as it soaked through her clothes, but she willed her warmth into him, stroking his cheeks and his neck with her palms. His thick, dark hair was wet too. "Ned," she murmured. "Please, Ned, please wake up."

She was almost chanting it, feeling desperate, when suddenly he shifted under her. One of his arms came up and wrapped around her waist.

She pushed back to look into his face. His eyelashes were fluttering.

"Oh, Ned!"

"Mmm," he groaned, and she felt the rumble of it against her. "What happened?" His teeth were still chattering, a little.

"You fell in the river. Oh, thank God you're all right!"

"Why—am I naked?"

"Had to warm you up." Nancy started to push herself up. "There's a blanket in my car—"

But Ned wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her back down to him. "Mmm. Give me a minute," he murmured.

She relaxed against him again, her cheek against his shoulder, and closed her eyes. His heart was beating beneath hers. It would almost be romantic, she was shocked to find herself thinking, if he hadn't just almost died, and if he hadn't been unconscious for most of it.

Then he patted her back. "Th-thank you," he told her, his teeth still chattering. "You saved my life."

She immediately shook her head, pushing herself up again. "I..."

"You did."

His dark eyes were so sweet, his lashes wet, and she had never been in quite this position with a man before. When he reached up to stroke his palm against her cheek, she sighed; when he drew her down to him again—

She didn't quite know how it happened, later, but her lips ended up pressed to his, and he was kissing her, sweetly and then open-mouthed, sending an altogether different kind of shudder down her spine. He splayed the fingers of his other hand over her back and she became so shockingly aware of everything, of his hard masculine body under hers, the warmth of his tongue in her mouth, his fingers in her hair.

She didn't pull back for several minutes; she seemed to have lost the capacity to think or speak, to do anything other than feel and respond to his touch. When she managed to push herself up again, her cheeks flushed hot, he just regarded her calmly, his lips trembling a little, unapologetic.

"Ned," she whispered, and her voice was tender.

He smiled. "I suppose I've ruined everything for tonight," he said, and her heart gave an unpleasant lurch. If she had misunderstood—

"We'll just have to try again tomorrow, to find this guy?"

After a beat she nodded, relieved. "Yes. I mean—if you're feeling up to it."

"I'll be right as rain tomorrow. Just need a hot bath and a good night's sleep." He shivered when he stood with her, then began gathering his sodden clothes. "Thank you."

She shook her head, suddenly feeling bashful, but at the same time they reached for each other's hands, and she gripped his tightly.

"Just don't scare me like that again," she told him, trying to keep her voice light.

"Yes, miss," he murmured. "I'll try."


End file.
